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Tuesday, 18 September 2012

More than 300 000 asylum seekers in the EU in European 2011L'Union
recorded 301,000 asylum seekers in 2011, a figure up from the previous
year, and France is the country most in demand, according to figures
released Friday by the EU statistics officeEurostat. 31 900 asylum
applications were registered in Belgiuum

The number of
asylum seekers has increased from 259,000 in 2010 to 301,000 in 2011,
Eurostat said. Nearly 90% of them were new applicants, against 10% who
reiterated their request.

Afghans were the most numerous: there
were 28,000, or 9% of the total, before the Russians (6%), Pakistanis,
Iraqis and Serbs (5% each).

France is the European
country that registered the highest number of asylum seekers (56 300),
just ahead of Germany (53,300), Italy (34,100) and Belgium (31,900).
Compared with the population of the country is Malta, which topped by
Luxembourg.

Three quarters (75%) of first instance decisions
recorded in 2011 were subject to rejection and 12% of applicants were
granted refugee status, others benefiting from subsidiary protection or a
residence permit for humanitarian reasons